Dear Jack Sillane (on Fairhaven Mills, Cliftex etc.)
http://www.newbedford360.com/articles/articles/155/1/Dear-Jack-Sillane-on-Fairhaven-Mills-Cliftex-etc/Page1.html
Samuel P. Thomas
Samuel P. Thomas, CCIM, serves as a senior investment advisor for Sperry Van Ness specializing in the sale of office, industrial and retail properties in Massachusetts along Route 128 and Interstate 495.
With more than $500 million career sales and leasing transactions volume and 25 years of commercial real estate experience, Sam has assisted his clients with the disposition of property, sales and leaseback transactions, negotiations, and has consulted with clients both nationally and internationally.
By Samuel P. Thomas
Published on 09/24/2007
Wow! Enough is enough! I cannot believe you wrote an editorial that says absolutely nothing! However, since you have raised the issue on preservation once again, let me take a stab at it and see if it helps you figure out the difference between preservation of buildings vs. creation of jobs!
Enough is Enough! (Fairhaven Mills, Cliftex mill, etc.)
This letter is in response to an editorial piece by New Bedford Standard Times journalist Jack Spillane. The original piece can be read on the Standard Times' web site - HERE
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Dear Jack Spillane
Wow! Enough is enough! I cannot believe you wrote an editorial that says absolutely nothing! However, since you have raised the issue on preservation once again, let me take a stab at it and see if it helps you figure out the difference between preservation of buildings vs. creation of jobs!
It would be insane to believe that the mill buildings of Massachusetts were built for a purpose other than to house growth companies of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. This is a fact! Companies were growing with the new technology of the day and mill building construction answered the call. No rhyme or reason! They satisfied a need at the time and were built with materials and ideas of the time. They were not built for any other purpose!
Today, we don’t live in the same environment that our grandparents and great-grandparents lived in. In fact we live in a time when our technology, our knowledge and our needs are very different. We need clean-rooms and modern air-conditioned and energy efficient space to grow our companies. We have demands that require us to be “green” so that we will hopefully leave a better place for our children to live and prosper. Yes, there is a strong possibility that what we build today will be torn down in 20 years or less because as we advance in technology our needs may become very different. What we build today meets our needs of today just like those who built mill buildings met their needs of yesterday.
We have been very fortunate to have saved a number of mill buildings throughout the Commonwealth over the past 30 years. The reason we were able to save these old properties was because of one very fundamental reason…location, location, location! This is the fundamental reason behind real estate. And yes, Jack, money is why real estate is built in the first place. Whether it is your home or a factory or a shopping center, it is still driven by investor’s dollars. Let’s be very clear about one thing, real estate is and will always be a fundamental investment tool in this country and else where in the world. Without investors who have money, real estate cannot exist!
To this Jack, let me suggest some things for thought…
• Cost: Buildings require heat and electricity as well as payment for taxes and other operating expenses. Those costs do not go away and they do increase every day…
• Jobs: Jobs are created when companies can locate in an area where they believe they can produce the technology, services and pieces in a building that is efficient and cost effective. Without employers, there are no jobs.
• Location: Companies only locate in markets and places where they believe they can find the right employees. Yes, the SouthCoast is a great opportunity for many growth companies but, today is not the right time since we are in a recession and investors are being very cautious about where they are placing their money. Growth is more or less at a standstill in most of the Commonwealth as it is in other parts o the country because we are highly leveraged in all areas. This too shall come and go and once again we will be in a growth economy. It has happened every decade for the last 60 years and you can bet it will happen in decades to come.
• Industry: The companies of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s have gone and don’t count on them coming back. Industry today is very different and the demands they have can and will not be served in old mill buildings. If you want these new companies to stay out of the SouthCoast and especially New Bedford, then keep promoting the salvation of old mill properties. Your children and their children will always remind you of the dilapidated mill structures that should have been torn to the ground so they could have stayed and worked for companies that would have paid them enough money to stay.
Last but not least since I could write about this forever, is that leaving things as they are is irresponsible. If you and others are determined to save the mills especially the Fairhaven Mill, then write a check! I represent the owner of the Fairhaven Mill property and have been trying to sell it for more than a year. Last year I had Berkshire Development lined up to purchase the property as well as all the private parcels abutting the mill. They had a drawn plan that would have attempted to save the mill. Unfortunately, someone drove them away just before the closing thinking there was going to be some kind of “Oklahoma Land Rush” of developers who would offer better to the City of New Bedford. There in lies the tragedy! So to think that no one has tried to save the mill is wrong! Enough is enough! The clock is ticking!
Samuel P. Thomas, CCIM
Managing Director
Continental Realty Advisors, Inc.
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Dear Jack Spillane
Wow! Enough is enough! I cannot believe you wrote an editorial that says absolutely nothing! However, since you have raised the issue on preservation once again, let me take a stab at it and see if it helps you figure out the difference between preservation of buildings vs. creation of jobs!
It would be insane to believe that the mill buildings of Massachusetts were built for a purpose other than to house growth companies of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. This is a fact! Companies were growing with the new technology of the day and mill building construction answered the call. No rhyme or reason! They satisfied a need at the time and were built with materials and ideas of the time. They were not built for any other purpose!
Today, we don’t live in the same environment that our grandparents and great-grandparents lived in. In fact we live in a time when our technology, our knowledge and our needs are very different. We need clean-rooms and modern air-conditioned and energy efficient space to grow our companies. We have demands that require us to be “green” so that we will hopefully leave a better place for our children to live and prosper. Yes, there is a strong possibility that what we build today will be torn down in 20 years or less because as we advance in technology our needs may become very different. What we build today meets our needs of today just like those who built mill buildings met their needs of yesterday.
We have been very fortunate to have saved a number of mill buildings throughout the Commonwealth over the past 30 years. The reason we were able to save these old properties was because of one very fundamental reason…location, location, location! This is the fundamental reason behind real estate. And yes, Jack, money is why real estate is built in the first place. Whether it is your home or a factory or a shopping center, it is still driven by investor’s dollars. Let’s be very clear about one thing, real estate is and will always be a fundamental investment tool in this country and else where in the world. Without investors who have money, real estate cannot exist!
To this Jack, let me suggest some things for thought…
• Cost: Buildings require heat and electricity as well as payment for taxes and other operating expenses. Those costs do not go away and they do increase every day…
• Jobs: Jobs are created when companies can locate in an area where they believe they can produce the technology, services and pieces in a building that is efficient and cost effective. Without employers, there are no jobs.
• Location: Companies only locate in markets and places where they believe they can find the right employees. Yes, the SouthCoast is a great opportunity for many growth companies but, today is not the right time since we are in a recession and investors are being very cautious about where they are placing their money. Growth is more or less at a standstill in most of the Commonwealth as it is in other parts o the country because we are highly leveraged in all areas. This too shall come and go and once again we will be in a growth economy. It has happened every decade for the last 60 years and you can bet it will happen in decades to come.
• Industry: The companies of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s have gone and don’t count on them coming back. Industry today is very different and the demands they have can and will not be served in old mill buildings. If you want these new companies to stay out of the SouthCoast and especially New Bedford, then keep promoting the salvation of old mill properties. Your children and their children will always remind you of the dilapidated mill structures that should have been torn to the ground so they could have stayed and worked for companies that would have paid them enough money to stay.
Last but not least since I could write about this forever, is that leaving things as they are is irresponsible. If you and others are determined to save the mills especially the Fairhaven Mill, then write a check! I represent the owner of the Fairhaven Mill property and have been trying to sell it for more than a year. Last year I had Berkshire Development lined up to purchase the property as well as all the private parcels abutting the mill. They had a drawn plan that would have attempted to save the mill. Unfortunately, someone drove them away just before the closing thinking there was going to be some kind of “Oklahoma Land Rush” of developers who would offer better to the City of New Bedford. There in lies the tragedy! So to think that no one has tried to save the mill is wrong! Enough is enough! The clock is ticking!
Samuel P. Thomas, CCIM
Managing Director
Continental Realty Advisors, Inc.